Who You Truly Are
by LessAttitudeMoreAltitude
Summary: Oneshot. Kanan may think his life as a Jedi is behind him, but Hera knows better.


**At first it was just a little drabble, then in evolved into a oneshot. *Shrugs*.** **Don't worry, I'm still working hard on The Undeserving. I just had this little idea in my head and wanted to get it out.**

* * *

"Would you ever take on a padawan?"

"What!?" _Clang_. "Ow!"

Hera winced in sympathy. In hindsight, it was a bit of a loaded question to ask out of the blue. She probably should have waited until Kanan was no longer working on the _Ghost's_ underbelly. "You okay?"

"I'm _fine_ …" Kanan dragged himself out and shot Hera a glare while rubbing his head. "What did you say?"

"I asked if you would ever - "

"Actually, no. I heard you the first time. Don't say it again. And the answer is no. Okay? Okay. Moving on."

Hera watched incredulously as Kanan crawled back under the _Ghost_. "Just like that?"

"What do you want? A fully annotated essay laying out all of the reasons that would be a terrible idea?"

Hera sighed. She didn't know why she had expected any different. In the two years they had been working together, Kanan had made it explicitly clear that he was 'not a Jedi'. He considered that part of his life to be long dead, and he had no wish to bring it back to life. Ever.

Still… "I was just thinking, there must still be Force-sensitive children littered across the galaxy, right? Given how much we get around, the chances of us finding one must be - "

"Astronomically low." There was the scrapping of metal against metal as Kanan continued the repairs. "Only one out of every hundred _trillion_ sentients are Force-sensitive."

Alright, those were pretty steep odds. "It could still happen. And if it did, you wouldn't even _consider_ training them?"

"Kriff, no." Kanan crawled back out, wiping his hands on an oil stained rag. "Last thing I need to do is screw up some poor kid."

She couldn't help it; she chuckled at his self-loathing. From the lives he had defended on Gorse to the children he had saved on Brentaal, Hera knew firsthand that Kanan was not just a protector, but naturally kindhearted (when he wasn't completely wasted). Frankly, she believe he'd be a great mentor. "You wouldn't 'screw them up', Kanan."

"No? You know I never completed my training. I was young for a padawan, and I was only apprenticed for a few months." He spat out the last few words like they were rotten jogans. "What could I possibly teach?"

"You have _years_ of training and experience as a Jedi! Compared to a youngling who barely even knows who the Jedi _are_ …"

But Kanan just shook his head. "If we ever find a Force-sensitive child, we're just going to leave them with their parents where they belong. Then maybe they'll have some chance to live a normal life."

He said it with finality, and Hera knew the conversation was done. Nothing she said would get him to see otherwise. Still, she couldn't help but hope that someday, he would be able to accept his Jedi past. And if by some miracle they did find a Force-sensitive child, maybe he would finally figure out that he had something to offer this galaxy besides drunken flirting and unbridled gunslinging.

* * *

"A _kid_ tripped you up? Must be some kid. Spill it!"

"Aren't you a little busy right at the moment?"

Hera was offended that he thought she couldn't dodge tie fighters and have a conversation at the same time. "Spill."

"What do you want from me? He dropped in the middle of our op, stole a bike of crates and ran. Zeb and I tried to catch up to him, but a tie fighter got in our way."

"So he managed to not only outmaneuver _you_ , but a tie fighter as well? Kid sounds impressive."

Kanan gave her a 'look'. "You're not thinking what I think you're thinking…"

"He held on to a crate of blasters with a pack of troopers on his tail!"

"Because I was there to save him! He's a streetrat! Wild, reckless, dangerous, and…" he glanced back at the camera. "... gone?" Hera chuckled as Kanan scrambled to their internal com. "Zeb, Sabine, where's the kid?"

 _"Calm down chief, He's in…. Uh, here?"_

"Zeb…" Kanana practically growled. "Where is he?"

"Well, he is still in the ship."

A few low thumps echoed through the _Ghost's_ ventilation system.

Sabine chimed in. " _Oh, he's_ ** _in_ **_the ship alright."_

Hera couldn't help but smile. "Very creative. Sounds like someone I used to know."

"Ugh…" Kanan rolled his eyes, leaving the cockpit presumably to find their missing charge. Hera just shook her head, knowing the they were going to be having a very interesting conversation later.

* * *

"There's nothing to talk about, Hera."

"No? The fact that we just _happened_ to pick up a kid who was able to fend of the _Empire_ isn't interesting enough?"

Kanan scowled. "I'll admit, the kid's impressive. But that's no reason to take an _interest_ in him. We finish the job, then we drop him off back home, okay?"

Hera narrowed her eyes. Kanan was being suspiciously cagey about this. "What's going on? Why are you so hesitant about this kid? Seems like he'd be really useful for our cause."

Kanan pinched the bridge of his nose with a sigh. "I just… Think he'd be better off… _away_ from us. You know, with his own family…"

Echoes of an older conversation made themselves known. "Oh Goddess… He's Force-sensitive, isn't he!?"

Glancing around in alarm, Kanan shoved her into his cabin. "I don't know for sure. I just…" He hesitated.

"You _sensed_ something in him," she finished with a smirk.

"Maybe. Probably not." He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I've been disconnected from the Force for years. It's probably just my imagination."

"And if it's not? If he's actually Force-sensitive?"

Kanan pursed his lips. "There is a way to know for sure."

Hera raised an eyebrow. "And that is…?"

* * *

"I think you have something that belongs to me."

Without a second thought, Ezra pulled the holocron from a back pocket and tossed it to him. "Good luck saving the galaxy."

With a slight frown, Kanan watched Ezra run off towards the decrepit tower, the open holocron resting in his hand.

"He opened it," Hera pointed out with a hint of triumph in her voice. "He passed the test."

Ezra was vanishing into the distance, and it was taking an awful amount of willpower on her part to not go after him. Especially after his confession that he didn't have parents. It shouldn't have been surprising. The kid was definitely on the thin side, and his clothes weren't exactly what you'd call 'clean.' But that just meant Kanan had no excuses. Ezra didn't even have a family to go home to, which meant he could either stay with the _Ghost_ crew and be trained or be left behind as a common streetrat.

She knew what Kanan wanted. At least, what he wanted deep down. She saw the way Kanan had smiled at Ezra when he suggested going to Kessel to save the Wookies. He liked the kid. And he saw potential in him.

The question was whether or not Kanan was finally going to accept who he was.

Kanan noticed that Hera was gazing at him. "What?" he asked.

She waved her hand in the direction of the tower. "Well? Are you going to go after him or not?"

"Of course I am. I got get my lightsaber back."

Hera glanced down at his belt, raising an eyebrow in surprise. "Kid lifted something off of _you_?"

"Hey, I _let_ him take it."

Hera crossed her arms with an amused smirk. "Uh huh."

Kanan glanced back down at the holocron, looking pensive. "You know, he might not _want_ to join us. Especially after he left him with those Imperials."

Her cheeks were starting to hurt as her smile impossibly widened. "You're going to train him."

"I'm going to _offer_ to train him," Kanan clarified. He looked up in the direction of the tower. "Whether he accepts will be up to him."

Hera had little doubt what Ezra's response would be. She saw that twinkle in his eye when they had saved the Wookies. He saw the way he had unconsciously leaned into Kanan's touch. That boy needed a family, and they were more than willing to welcome a new member.

But more than anything, a part of her heart soared as she watched the subtle change in her gunslinger. A confidence that had always been just under the surface, a surety that he was going down the right path.

Her Jedi Knight.

She placed a hand on his shoulder. "Well, go ahead and offer already. We need to get on to our next job."

Kanan gave her a knowing smile. "You already knew."

"Not knew. But hoped. I will say, it's nice to know my hopes aren't in vain."

It wasn't the end of a road. She could see the doubt in his eyes, the edge of fear as he gazed at the tower in the distance. But there was also determination as he put the holocron away and ran out into the plains to follow his soon-to-be padawan.

"It's about time," Hera said softly.

* * *

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